This Doesn’t Take a Genius : College basketball: Washington State coach won’t take credit for improved play of his team. The difference is the talent, he says.

In his fourth season as basketball coach at Washington State, Kelvin Sampson has confirmed firsthand what he always knew to be true--that the secret to success isn’t much of a mystery.

More often than not, the team with the most talent wins.

“In this business, a lot of coaches are running around thinking they’re the reason their teams are winning,” Sampson said. “But let me tell you something: My team lost a lot of games last year and it’s winning a lot this year, and I have very little to do with this.

“I went out and recruited better players. That’s the reason why you win--because you have (better) personnel.”

Sampson’s team, energized and revitalized by an influx of new players, is the surprise of the Pacific 10 Conference, assured of the first winning season at Washington State since the 1982-83 season and in line for a possible bid to the NCAA tournament, a prospect that seemed highly improbable at the start of fall practice.

The Cougars ended last season with an 18-game losing streak and records of 1-17 in the Pac-10 and 0-11 on the road. They were 7-22 overall.

But going into tonight’s game against UCLA, which is expected to draw a near-sellout crowd to 12,058-seat Friel Court, the Cougars are 16-8 overall and 8-6 in the Pac-10, tied for second place with the Bruins.

Is Sampson surprised?

“Not really,” he said. “We’re talking about kids who were good players, coming out of good programs. We’re talking about solid, solid individuals. If you’re on the outside looking in, it probably looks a little more amazing than it does on the inside looking out.”

Sampson brought in four junior college transfers and four freshmen. Three of the transfers--forward Ken Critton and guards Terrence Lewis and Neil Derrick--are starters, as is freshman forward Rob Corkrum.

Only one holdover, sophomore point guard Bennie Seltzer, ranks among the top seven scorers. And Seltzer, named to the Pac-10 all-freshman team last season, has been left out of the starting lineup eight times.

Brian Paine, a 6-foot-10 junior and returning starter who scored 20 points against UCLA last season, averages 16 minutes a game.

“We were playing kids last year who weren’t good enough to play in this league,” Sampson said. “A kid like Brian Paine is a good role player, and now he’s back this year in the role he should be playing. He’s just not as good as the kids who are starting in front of him.”

A victory over the No. 16-ranked Bruins (20-7) could be critical in attracting a bid to the NCAA tournament because the Cougars did not play a strong nonconference schedule. They have played only one other ranked team--they lost twice to No. 7 Arizona--and four of their victories were against non-Division I opponents.

Sampson, though, refuses to second-guess his schedule-making.

“When I set up this schedule, we were coming off an 18-game losing streak,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about the NCAA tournament. But if you’re asking me, would I do it over again, you’re doggone right I would. This program needed to win some games. These kids needed confidence.”

They gained that confidence in lopsided routs of opponents such as Brigham Young-Hawaii, Cal State Sacramento, UC San Diego and Seattle; they won the Alabama Birmingham tournament and they have a winning record against the improved Pac-10.

A former Washington State coach, USC’s George Raveling, called them the most athletic team in the conference. Sampson has junked the deliberate style he used to try to keep the Cougars competitive last season, and they’re averaging 85 points a game, about 18 more than last season.

Derrick is the leading scorer, averaging 15.8 points, but Sampson said that Lewis, a 6-4 junior from Birmingham, Ala., is the Cougars’ best player. Lewis, who signed with Providence out of high school before failing to meet the academic requirements of Proposition 48, is averaging 15.6 points.

Derrick and Critton, averaging 8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds, also failed to meet Prop. 48 standards in high school.

Will they reach the NCAA tournament?

“If we can win 18, I think we should get in,” said Sampson, whose team will play host to USC Saturday, then end the regular season with rematches against UCLA and USC next week in Los Angeles. “We’re in a tough league. We play hard; our kids play exciting basketball.

“If they’re going to take the top 64 teams in the country--I would certainly think we’re among the top 64.”

A year ago, nobody would have dreamed it.